How eBOM Meets the PLM Needs of Europe

Arena has customers around the world thanks in no small part to our global value-added resellers. One such reseller is a company called eBOM based in Scandinavia.

“eBOM implements cutting edge knowledge and solutions in high tech companies to make them more efficient and competitive,”  says eBOM’s Vice President Daniel Nihlén. “Arena is the PLM solution of choice and eBOM is the VAR for Arena in Scandinavia. We resell, implement, train and support our Arena customers. Arena is a highly appreciated and professional partner to us, supporting with strong marketing, sales and customer support.”

In this question and answer interview session, Daniel talks about the unique challenges of selling product lifecycle management (PLM) to European manufacturers.

Arena: Every global market is unique. Tell me what is unique about the manufacturers in the market that you serve?

Daniel: Scandinavia is a bit fragmented when it comes to larger enterprises with some dominant industries in each region, i.e. telecom and industrial equipment in Finland and Sweden, offshore in Norway etc. The good thing is that these companies create a lot of innovative spin offs and startups that grow rapidly. The challenges for these companies are more or less universal, although we see a trend of increasing outsourcing of R&D that shifts the focus even more towards the collaboration aspect of R&D and operations. That is where Arena is an invaluable asset to our customers.

Arena: How have you been able to achieve such great success?

Daniel: The major factor of eBOM’s success is that Arena provides a superior PLM solution that has strong functionality, implementation and operational benefits that are second to none for the markets we support. In other words, we have a solution that is attractive and that can be sold in a way that makes it easy for customers to really understand what they are buying. Another contributor to eBOM’s success that goes hand in hand is that the market here in Scandinavia adopted early to invest in modern IT solutions like Arena. Companies leverage the cloud advantages in all areas of their business now.

Arena: Can you give us some anecdotes about why manufacturers choose Arena?

Daniel: One of eBOM’s customers chose Arena one year ago simply because the fit was extremely good. This company develops advanced amplifier modules in a broad array of product families and variants. They outsource to contract manufacturers and sell the finished products to OEMs. They use an ECAD system that integrates well with Arena and they use SiliconExpert for parts information and wanted the standard integration to Arena for this as well.

Arena: Your relationship with this particular PLM customer goes all the way back in 2011, correct?

Daniel: Yes, at that point in time they were a subsidiary to a company that was about to choose a PLM solution for the whole enterprise. The parent company evaluated a few PLM solutions. The subsidiary was not satisfied with the choice of their parent company, as hardly any of their specified needs were met, and they got vague promises on future enhancements to their needs that eventually never fell in. So during four years’ time, the company struggled with a PLM solution that did not fit their needs and used it as a document management system for parts information. Early 2016 the subsidiary was bought out by part of the management and a venture capitalist. So now they were back in the driver’s seat to choose a PLM system that fit their needs and Arena was the natural choice. The lesson learned here is that enterprises tend to overestimate the advantages of one solution fits all needs instead of adopting best in class solutions for each business need.